Ever thought why is it some people seem to learn anything very quickly? Now, that is not to say they are experts, which is a different story. What is referred to here is about picking things up easily. Of course, different people can learn different things at various paces. Someone may be better at sensory motor skills, yet others are better with languages. But is there a formula for learning anything quickly?

To be able to learn anything quickly, there are several things you need to understand. One, you need to be confident. Two, you need to understand the basics and three, work at it.

Confidence
One of the most important elements in learning anything is confidence. First, you need to be confident in what you are going to learn and tell yourself that it is going to be easy. Do not be defeated even before you begin. It can be a simple positive self-talk of “I can do this.” Once your confidence is up, learning anything is easy. You may have had different learning experiences, but tell yourself each experience is different and each offers a new opportunity to build confidence.

Overview
Regardless of what you will be learning, get an overview of the material. Research, read and get a feel of it. This is a process of introducing the new material to your brains, hands and legs. You are preparing the ground before you sow the seeds. When your brain is introduced to the material, whatever you introduce later will be easily absorbed. It does not matter if you are learning a new language or karate. Have some fun searching through the internet, read some books and get a bird’s eye view of what you will learn later. This is a phase where you just want a feel of it.

Understand The Basics
Every field has their basics – be it cooking, language, martial arts, driving a car, golf, you name it. Understand what are the basics involved because when you get the basics right you will speed up the learning process. It is like learning your “A, B, Cs”, when you know them well you start to spell and read. Then you progress to having a bigger vocabulary. You read sentences, then paragraphs, essays and you eventually read books. It is the same for other fields. Focus on the basics and you will learn faster.

Break Them Up Into Smaller Chunks
Do not try to learn everything at the same time and expect to be an expert in a short period of time. To be an expert takes time. To learn something quickly so you have the foundation to be an expert later, you have to break about what you learn into bite size chunks. That way you can digest the materials better and faster.

Review
The last step to learn anything quickly is reviewing the material you have learned. This is because you are new at what you have just learned. Review and practice, and you will be ready for the next lesson and you will even learn new material better.

To learn anything quickly you need to be confident and be ready to put in the effort. The effort involves getting a bird’s eye view of what you will learn, understanding the basics involved, breaking up what you will learn into smaller chunks and finally practicing what you have learned so you can remember. More importantly to be prepared to learn newer material.